Related papers: Electric solar wind sail applications overview
The successes of previous and current Mars rovers have encouraged space agencies worldwide to pursue additional planetary exploration missions with more ambitious navigation goals. For example, NASA's planned Mars Sample Return mission will…
Solar Orbiter is intended to become ESA's next solar mission in heritage of the successful SOHO project. The scientific objectives of the mission, its design, and its scientific payload are reviewed. Specific emphasis is given to the…
There is an opportunity to advance both solar system and extrasolar planetary studies that does not require the construction of new telescopes or new missions but better use and access to inter-disciplinary data sets. This approach…
Solar Orbiter, the first mission of ESA's Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 programme and a mission of international collaboration between ESA and NASA, will explore the Sun and heliosphere from close up and out of the ecliptic plane. It was launched…
Context: The principle definition of habitability for exoplanets is whether they can sustain liquid water on their surfaces, i.e. that they orbit within the habitable zone. However, the planet's magnetosphere should also be considered,…
The POLAR Investigation of the Sun (POLARIS) mission uses a combination of a gravity assist and solar sail propulsion to place a spacecraft in a 0.48 AU circular orbit around the Sun with an inclination of 75 degrees with respect to solar…
In this contribution, I briefly review the long-term evolution of the solar wind (its mass-loss rate), including the evolution of observed properties that are intimately linked to the solar wind (rotation, magnetism and activity). I also…
This paper presents a study for the realization of a space mission which employs nanosatellites driven by an external laser source impinging on an optimized lightsail, as a valuable technology to launch swarms of spacecrafts into the Solar…
The solar wind drag-based model is a widely used framework for predicting the propagation of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) through interplanetary space. This model primarily considers the aerodynamic drag exerted by the solar wind on CMEs.…
Single spacecraft missions do not measure the pristine solar wind continuously because of the spacecrafts' orbital trajectory. The infrequent spatiotemporal cadence of measurement fundamentally limits conclusions about solar…
We investigate the electromagnetic interaction of a relativistic stellar wind with a planet or a smaller body in orbit around the star. This may be relevant to objects orbiting a pulsar, such as PSR B1257+12 and PSR B1620-26 that are…
The objective of this White Paper submitted to ESA's Voyage 2050 call is to get a more holistic knowledge of the dynamics of the Martian plasma system from its surface up to the undisturbed solar wind outside of the induced magnetosphere.…
Wind is the process that connects Mars' climate system. Measurements of Mars atmospheric winds from orbit would dramatically advance our understanding of Mars and help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet. Multiple instrument…
Stellar magnetism, explorable via polarimetry, is a crucial driver of activity, ionization, photodissociation, chemistry and winds in stellar environments. Thus it has an important impact on the atmospheres and magnetospheres of surrounding…
Solar sail technology is ready to be deployed in a satellite mission carrying a science-grade magnetometer. In preparation for such a mission, it is essential to characterize the interactions between the sail and the ambient plasma that…
Recent successes in the deployment of sails in space have reduced the risk associated with solar sailing missions. The attitude control requirements for a solar sailing mission is low with only slow attitude maneuvers needed to maintain a…
The outer heliosphere is a dynamic region shaped largely by the interaction between the solar wind and the interstellar medium. While interplanetary magnetic field and plasma observations by the Voyager spacecraft have significantly…
Two new interplanetary technologies have advanced in the past decade to the point where they may enable exciting, affordable missions that reach further and faster deep into the outer regions of our solar system: (i) small and capable…
Using data collected by the Indian Mars Orbiter Mission in October 2021, we investigated coronal regions of the Sun by analyzing the Doppler spectral width of radio signals to estimate solar wind velocity. A simplified equation is…
In-situ measurements by several spacecraft have revealed that the solar wind is frequently perturbed by transient structures (magnetic folds, jets, waves, flux-ropes) that propagate rapidly away from the Sun over large distances. Parker…